Hi there,

I need some advice on keeping CPA down.

I have several adgroups setup. When some days the CPA goes above target I intend to pause the troublesome adgroups inorder to lower costs and bring down average CPA. BUT I suspect this isn't the best way of achieving this.

As Im pausing those adgroups, next time I resume I would get a much lower ranking. This is because my CTR would now be lower than my competitor bidders who remained in the auction whilst my adgroups were paused.

Am I right here?
Can anyone shed anymore light?

Many thanks for your kind help.

Just set your daily budget to the amount you're willing to spend. If the budget is lower than your potential traffic, Google (theoretically) spreads out your impressions over 24 hours - meaning your ad won't show every time, but you won't blow through a bunch of money. This is easier than pausing ads / campaigns, and it doesn't hurt your CTR/CPC ratio.

Thanks Mel.

As you have mentioned, lowering daily budgets will mean that google will only show ads spread over the 24hr period with longer intervals between impressions.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the longer the interval the more the adverse affect is on the 'CTR/CPC' ratio.

Would it be a better option to decrease cpc for the suspect adgroup to min bid?. This way all keywords would get impressions and maybe even click through if CTR is high enough. Will this option have much lesser adverse effect on the 'CTR/CPC' ratio?

Many thanks for your help.

I didn't think the daily budget had any effect on your CTR/CPC ratio, but maybe I'm wrong.

I certainly wouldn't lower my bid to the minimum - that would *definitely* adversely affect your ratio, and might cause keywords to get disabled due to low CTR. Trust me, you definitely don't want to go down that road if you can avoid it.

Maybe someone can clarify whether the budget affects the ratio.

your clickthrough rate does not go down if the campaigns are paused.

it does go down if you do minimal bids and keep it active.

one thing to keep in mind is that with or without you the marketplace may continue to get smarter.

more competitors may enter the market or gain higher clickthrough rate (plus the absense of your ads means someone elses ads could move up in the rankings and obtain a higher CTR)

pause it and lose it....


The entire AdWords works beyond a definable or set algorithm... it is a combination of CTR and max bid etc.

What should you do?

Start with setting each keyword in its own Ad Group and then beta testing the creatives to improve the CTR... track them and start by choosing the best ones... Google will optimize your ads to the ones with the best CTR.

Then you have to look at them and see which converts at the best price and go beyond the number to figure CTR and CPA.

Come to the SES in NY and get the full idea at the Perfecting Paid Listings panel.

Or wait till after that and I will share what I give to the attendees... though if you attend you can pick my brain in person....